There are many types of garments that must substantially cover the body and provide water-tight seals around the wrists, neck and/or ankles. Typically they comprise a one-piece suit body made of a waterproof material that includes an upper torso portion with sleeves for the arms and a lower trousers portion for enclosing the legs. Water-tight seals are provided around the terminal ends of the sleeves and trousers, and the hands and feet are normally covered by gloves and boots. Such garments usually have a neck opening, a water-tight neck seal and a hood or helmet. An example of such a garment is an underwater diving suit known as a dry suit. The diver wears fabric clothing under the dry suit for warmth, and the water-tight seals prevent the ingress of cold water. Dry suits typically have a large diagonal opening in the front thereof to make them easier to put on and take off. This opening is sealed by a water-tight zipper.
So-called survival suits may have a similar construction, and allow a person to withstand extreme cold water conditions for as much as six to eight hours while awaiting rescue. Suits of this general type are also worn by persons who must enter areas where hazardous chemicals or biological agents are present. Such “HAZMAT” suits require that the seals be gas-tight as well, or positive internal air pressure may be used to prevent the ingress of any harmful agents through the wrist, ankle and/or neck seals.
Gluing the gloves directly to the sleeves and the boots directly to the pants is not a desirable approach because tears cannot be easily repaired. Therefore, dry suits typically use tapered seals around the wrists and legs that are made from neoprene or dipped latex rubber. The gloves and boots are then separately donned and doffed. However, these tapered seals can degrade over time due to exposure to ultraviolet light from the sun and ozone from pollution. They can also tear. When this happens, expensive repairs are required, which are difficult, if not impossible, to make in the field. Furthermore, where dry suits are used for training, the tapered seals must be cut at the appropriate length to accommodate the physical size of the user. This means that the suit cannot be re-used by a person of a different size.
One prior art approach involves the use of a rigid ring around the wrist, ankle and neck. The sleeve, pants leg and upper torso portions of the suit can then overlap the adjacent ring along with the corresponding glove, boot or hood. An O-ring or other stretchable member then encircles the overlapping suit portions and squeezes them together to provide water-tight seals. But such seals are very difficult to put on, and they are uncomfortable because the stiff ring does not flex and yield with body movement.
Prior art dive suits with watertight seals around the diver's neck and extremities do not allow the hood, gloves and boots to be readily removed when the diver leaves the water so that he or she can still wear the suit, achieve cooling ventilation, perform critical activities and then easily and rapidly re-don the hood, gloves and boots. For example, it would be desirable for U.S. Navy Seal Team forces to be able to leave the water in their dry suits, perform a clandestine operation on land after removing their hoods, gloves and boots. They need to be able to put these suit elements back on in rapid fashion in order to escape into the water undetected.